Masada (Hebrew: מַסָּדָה) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the northern Jordan Valley near the Sea of Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Emek HaYarden Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 388.^[1] Although still called a kibbutz, it privatized itself in 2006.

The name of the kibbutz was taken from the epic poem "Masada" by Yitzhak Lamdan, itself named after the fortress of Masada by the Dead Sea. It has nothing to do with the Hebrew word for base or foundation, "massad". The fortress of Masada is called in Hebrew "Metzadá" (מצדה), but Yitzhak Lamdan, although writing in Hebrew, used the name as it is known from the works of Josephus, "Masada" (מסדה). Lamdan's poem was extremely influential among Zionist Jews at the time the kibbutz was established.

The kibbutz was founded in 1937 by members of the Zionist Youth Movement "Gordonia", as part of the tower and stockade program by immigrants from Romania, the same day with the neighbor kibbutz Sha'ar HaGolan. The first members of the group immigrated to Israel and arrived in the village of Hadera in 1930. They were trained in a place then called "Givat Bussell", where there was significant agricultural activity at the beginning of the 20th century. In the area Hadera, there used to be Jewish farms, and the place was part of the efforts to establish agricultural settlements in Israel. Over the course of several years, more members joined the group, which gradually grew. When it was established, seven years after its establishment, the group numbered about 80 people and about 10 children.

The kibbutzs Massada and Sha'ar HaGolan were established in the valley, where five kibbutzs were already active: Degania A(lef), Degania Bet, Beit Zera, Afikim and Ashdot Ya'akov. The lands allocated to all the kibbutzs were purchased from the Arabs who lived in the area, mainly the residents of the village of Tzemach (Samach). The land was purchased by the Jewish National Fund (JNF).

As with Sha'ar HaGolan, the kibbutz's defenders retreated during the Battles of the Kinarot Valley of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War after holding out for four days of fighting. The two kibbutzim were captured and briefly held by the Syrian Army, during which time they were looted and burned down. Although the members made every reasonable effort to defend their kibbutz and returned soon after the events, a stigma was attached to them, and vindication in the form of released military records only arrived in recent years, decades too late.

Masada, like dozens of the kibbutzim near the Sea of Galilee, existed under the threat from both the Syrian Golan Heights towering from the east, and the Jordanians across the Yarmouk River. On 29 March 1968 a tractor from Masada hit a landmine, killing the driver and three passengers. Israeli forces came to evacuate the casualties, and Jordanian forces opened fire on them. In retaliation, the Israel Air Force attacked Jordanian targets east of Beit She'an. Several planes were damaged by anti-aircraft fire yet returned safely to base.

Masada suffered greatly under the economic collapse of the 1980s which affected it more harshly than other kibbutzim. In 2006 the kibbutz was privatized.

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  Masada under construction 1937, Shaʽar HaGolan in distance
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  Masada under construction 1937
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  Masada barracks under construction 1937
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  Masada tower under construction 1937
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  Masada 1939

• Lior Karmi (born 1975), sprint canoer
• Ofer Lifschitz (born 1958), politician

• Official website